


the bedding

by gotham_ruaidh



Series: Gotham Writes for Imagine Claire & Jamie [93]
Category: Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 15:59:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15975659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gotham_ruaidh/pseuds/gotham_ruaidh
Summary: what if Jamie and Claire’s first time wasn’t as romantic? What if Dougal was in the room and was threatening Claire’s (or Jamie’s life)?





	the bedding

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted at [Imagine Claire & Jamie](https://imagineclaireandjamie.tumblr.com/post/178011321197/anonymous-asked-what-if-jamie-and-claires-first) on tumblr

Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser choked down a silent sob, shaking fingers smoothing a rumpled shift down folded knees, face red with shame and sweat, wanting so desperately to disappear.

“…Knew ye’d be a good lad. We’re to ride in the morning – dinna let yer bride miss breakfast.”

She heard the sneer in Dougal MacKenzie’s voice, just as clearly as the iron in Jamie’s response.

“We’ll follow behind ye when we see fit. It’s the least ye can give us, after what just passed.”

“The lad has a point,” Ned Gowan reasoned. “For the lady’s sake, if nothing else.”

 _I’m right here!_ she wanted to scream. _Stop talking about me as if I’m not in the goddamn bloody room with you!_

“Weel…”

Claire sat ramrod straight on the bed. Strong. Skin prickling at Dougal’s cold gaze.

“This isna a negotiation.” Jamie’s steps shifted on the creaky floorboards – pushing the witnesses to the door. “If ye leave wi’out us, we’ll catch up. _We_ dictate now.”

“Stubborn as always,” Dougal huffed – but he didn’t argue.

The door opened then; Claire’s gaze remained fixed on the window on the south side of the room, watching the sun disappear over the elm trees.

“I’ll have all the appropriate documents prepared  by morning,” Ned quickly explained. “It’s all perfectly legal now.”

“Aye – it is, isn’t it? Goodnight, Jamie.” Dougal pulled open the door and pushed Ned out onto the landing. “And goodnight, Mistress Fraser.”

Claire clenched the bedsheets in a tight, tight fist.

Jamie slammed the door, bolted it, then leaned against it, watching his new wife.

_“It’s the way of things, Claire,” he had explained the night before, mere minutes after the announcement that had surprised them both. “I ken it’s barbaric – but it’s the only way to appease them now. And to make sure that you’re safe.”_

_“But surely – ”_

_“Do ye have a better idea? Because I promise ye, I dinna want it, either.”_

_Her exhausted mind flailed in a hundred separate directions. “But why isn’t it enough for people to…to be outside? To listen?”_

_“Because even these men can tell when a man and woman are pretending to do something they are not,” he sighed._

_Mercifully, Dougal and the men had granted them some privacy this afternoon – so here they sat, side by side on a bench outside the stables of the inn where they would consummate their marriage the next day, with Dougal and Ned in the room as witnesses._

_“I…”_

_Claire turned to face him, eyes wide._

_“I…I willna *ever* force myself on ye, Claire.” His face turned bright red – even to the tips of his ears. “Surely ye ken that?”_

_“Oh, Jamie. I know,” she sighed. “I would never force myself on *you*, either.”_

_Now his ruddy brows furrowed – and she couldn’t help but smile at the ridiculousness of the situation._

_“But I didna think it was possible, for a woman to force the man…”_

_She swallowed, and tilted up her chin. “There are so many things for you to learn yet, lad…”_

“Are you all right?”

She blinked – back in the room now, the ordeal over.

“I’ll manage.”

He sighed, pulling at a loose string from the sleeve of his shirt. “You didna answer my question.”

She flexed her fingers on the mattress, forming a lonely starfish. “I can imagine many better ways to spend my time.”

His bare feet whispered across the floor. “Do ye need to wash?”

The starfish became a fist. “Please.”

Thirty seconds later he was there – and gratefully, she took the damp cloth.

“Jamie – can you turn around, please?”

He swallowed, but did as she asked. Quickly she swiped the rag across her abdomen.

“I’m sorry ye have to do that,” he murmured.

She looked up to see him – his back, anyway – thrumming with angry energy. Fists clenched tightly at his sides. Legs coiled to strike. Neck corded with barely suppressed rage.

“It did the trick, didn’t it?”

“Aye – but at what cost to yer honor? To yer dignity – no’ just as a woman, Claire, but as a human being?”

Carefully, Claire folded the cloth and set it on the bedside table. “But what about your dignity? And besides, they don’t need to know that it wasn’t real.”

“But to subject you to that…what kind of animals do ye think we are?”

She considered her answer for quite a while. “I know one man who wanted to do the right thing – to honor his wife, despite it all. Who listened to her idea, and took her seriously, and did as she asked.”

Jamie whirled to face her – nostrils flared, brow streaming with sweat. Eyes so blue, so wide with fury.

She patted the bed. He came, sat beside her. Not touching.

Then she took his hands. The hands that, ten minutes before, had so carefully held himself over her, to not crush her as he pumped and pumped against the smooth skin of her stomach – safe under her shift from Dougal and Ned’s prying eyes.

“Thank you for honoring my request.”

He let out a sob. “I’ll do anything for you, Claire. Surely you know that by now?”

She expected a pang of guilt or a flash of memory and Frank’s face to come before her – but it didn’t.

She welcomed it.

“Do you want – do you want to do it for real, now?”

He could only look at her, face carefully, desperately blank. “I would be honored to, Claire. But only if it’s what you truly want – ”

“It is.” Heart suddenly free. “Something just for us.”

He nodded. “Tell me what to do. I’ll do anything you want.”

The world shifted at that moment – and Claire knew. For now she chose everything.

“Take off your shirt,” she smiled. “I want to look at you.”


End file.
